Reba McEntire is sharing details of how her fiancé, Rex Linn, proposed. McEntire reveals they have been engaged since the end of last year, waiting almost a year to share the good news.
“We got engaged December the 24th, Christmas Eve, in Leiper’s Fork,” McEntire tells People, referring to a small town located just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. The couple just went public with news of their plans to get married, although McEntire now says they never intended to keep it as a surprise.
“So we got engaged then,” the Grand Ole Opry member recalls. “We were going to make the announcement when we got back to L.A. in January, and the fires happened. It wasn’t appropriate. Our joy was like, ‘Oh my gosh, these people are losing their homes, if they can get out of their homes.’ We had to evacuate twice. So that wasn’t the time. And the time never presented itself until the Emmys, when it just happened. It wasn’t planned at all. It was his choice. We went to Africa last year, and he had planned – he took the ring – but nothing ever presented itself. So, December 24 did.”
McEntire and Linn have been dating since early 2020. Although she has been married twice before, Linn has never tied the knot, which is why she says the decision was entirely his.
“He’s very romantic. It was up to him totally,” McEntire maintains. “I had no idea. It was a total surprise. It was Rex Linn timing. I totally was thrilled to death. And I asked him, ‘Well, when do you want to do this?’ He said, ‘Let’s get this engagement …Let’s have fun with the engagement time.’ So we haven’t set a date or anything. We’re just enjoying each other.”
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What Reba McEntire Says About Being With Rex Linn
McEntire was married to her former manager, Narvel Blackstock, for 26 years, before they split in 2015. At the time, McEntire said she did not want the divorce to happen. But now, the 70-year-old is grateful for Linn, especially coming after such heartache.
“I’ve never been loved by a man like Rex Linn,” McEntire boasts. “Rex is a very tender-hearted man, and I just love him with all my heart. He’s a good guy. Real bashful though. He loves to hug. And he tells me he loves me an awful lot.”
Happier than ever, McEntire now has wise words to others who might be struggling after heartache.
“Never give up,” the singer urges. “If you’re in heartbreak right now, take care of yourself, take care of your heart, and be open with it. Because I was not looking for love, at all. It just happens, right time, right place. God’s timing is everything.”
Reba McEntire and Rex Linn on ‘Happy’s Place’
Not only do McEntire and Linn live together, but they also work together, on the hit NBC sitcom, Happy’s Place. It’s McEntire who was first cast for the show, suggesting that Linn join the comedy as well.
“Wherever we go, that is our Happy’s Place,” McEntire says. “We get to work together on a show that — he’s never done a four-camera show before. He’s done movies and one-hour dramas. He was on CSI: Miami for ten years. So to get to do a comedy, a four-camera comedy, it’s wonderful. We’re just having a blast. Loving life and loving getting to work together.”
McEntire and Linn spend almost all of their time together, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Drive to work with Rex and do the show, the rehearsals,” she says. “Drive home, talk about it, rehearse together. That’s what’s really special for me. I’ve not had that before. We go into my dressing room, and we eat lunch or we’ll have dinner together. And also on the set, we’ll belly up to the bar and have our breakfast.”